Hi, I’m
MIRCA ALVAREZ
Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Professional
Summary
Analyzes department-level needs and develops targeted approaches to managing disaster planning, recovery and risk mitigation. Cross-functional communicator with decisive and diligent approach to applying policies and procedures. Proven skills in successfully managing complex business requirements.
Overview
6
years of professional experience
2
Certificates
3
Languages
Work History
New York Times Co
Incident Management & Business Continuity
05.2024 - 03.2025
Job overview
- Developed, tested, and maintained business continuity plans to ensure organizational resilience.
- Directed tabletop exercises simulating operational challenges to strengthen preparedness.
- Conducted business impact analyses (BIA) to identify critical functions and prioritize recovery efforts.
- Provided real-time incident response support (using Pager Duty and Microsoft Teams), coordinating cross-functional teams during disruptions to minimize business impact.
- Developed a Disaster Recovery (DR) program from the ground up, ensuring alignment with business continuity and IT resilience strategies.
- Conducted comprehensive analysis of company applications and infrastructure to assess criticality, recovery time objectives (RTO), and recovery point objectives (RPO) to build an effective DR framework.
- Collaborated with IT, cybersecurity, and infrastructure teams to identify application dependencies and develop recovery workflows for critical systems.
Webster Bank
Third Party Risk Management Management
02.2023 - 05.2024
Job overview
- Conducted statistical analysis and evaluated risk via use of portfolio management software (Coupa) for third party vendors.
- Evaluated third-party vendors for adherence to regulatory requirements, minimizing exposure to potential risks.
- Reviewed contracts weekly to ensure proper reflection of ongoing risk management initiatives.
- Conducted thorough assessments of third-party vendors to identify potential risks related to security, compliance, and operational performance.
- Collaborated with cross-functional teams to evaluate third-party contracts, identifying key risk factors and ensuring that appropriate safeguards were in place.
- Reviewed and analyzed third-party audits and reports, ensuring compliance with industry standards, regulatory requirements, and internal policies.
- Maintained third-party risk management documentation, including risk assessments, business continuity/ diaster recovery plans, and vendor performance reports.
- Prepared regular reports for senior management and stakeholders on third-party risk status, highlighting key risks and mitigation efforts.
Webster Bank
Senior Analyst Business & Disaster Recovery
12.2022 - 05.2024
Job overview
- Establish and sustain business continuity plans (20+ plans) to improve, maintain and restore critical business functions.
- Utilized SAI360 to create and manage BC plans.
- Built and strengthened relationships with cross-functional teams to manage effective planning and implementation of emergency response strategies to ensure overall resilience.
- Designed, organized, and facilitated a tabletop exercise simulating a cybersecurity breach for a cross-functional team of 30+ employees.
- Guided participants through scenario-based decision-making, focusing on incident response, communication strategies, and resource allocation.
- Assessed team dynamics and response strategies, identifying key areas for improvement in the organization's crisis management protocols.
- Developed detailed after-action reports and recommendations for process optimization, contributing to enhanced emergency preparedness.
- Coordinate and perform the yearly RNS test (Rapid Notification System) through Everbridge.Implemented risk analysis tools, mitigation strategies, and management approaches consistently across departments.
- Contributed to organizational growth by identifying opportunities for process improvement in disaster recovery initiatives.
- Implement structure and execution the planning, coordination and the facilitation of DR testing for internal applications and external vendors.
- Organize test scripts and DR documentation.
- Analyzed post DR testing data to identify areas of improvement in existing recovery plans and strategies.
- Developed training materials and facilitated workshops to educate staff on disaster recovery best practices and testing.
- Generate monthly reports and executive summaries providing operational resiliency updates for monthly executive meetings and audit reports.
Morgan Stanley Wealth Management
Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Associate
09.2019 - 12.2022
Job overview
- Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery, Coordinate and review BCP disaster recovery (DR) testing with IT and manage business continuity planning projects.
- Identify, implement, and document test scenarios.
- Orchestrated functional and regression testing for over 500 applications.
- Coordinate updates to support all plans and procedures.
- Assist in administration of Emergency Response Plans.
- Responsible for establishing annual testing of BCP strategies and reporting on test result metrics.
- Develop BCP program governance standards, policies, and procedures.
- Designed and administered training program for yearly Disaster Recovery application testing, run book creation and execution.
- Developed an in-house Disaster Recovery site that includes dashboards (Qlikview), test guides, and other resources through SharePoint.
- Amplified10 area groups compliance through reporting Monthly Metrics to risk occurs.
Education
McKinsey Black Accelerated HonorsNew York, NY
from Business
01-2022
Year Up UnitedNew York, NY
from Investment Operations
08-2019
Skills
Business Continuity Planning (BCP)
Disaster Recovery Planning (DRP)
Risk Assessment & Management
Business Impact Analysis (BIA)
Crisis Management
Emergency Preparedness & Response
Data Backup & Recovery Strategies
Regulatory Compliance (eg, FFIEC, SOC 2)
Vendor Risk Management
Cybersecurity Resilience
Testing & Tabletop Exercises
Crisis Communication
Problem-Solving & Critical Thinking
Leadership & Stakeholder Engagement
Project Management
Training & Awareness Programs
Analytical & Strategic Thinking
Adaptability
Tools & Software:
Mass notification tools (Alert Media, Everbridge)
Fusion Risk Management,
SAI360
Coupa
Qlikview
Microsoft 365 suite
Google Suite
Pager Duty
Jira
Certification
Certified Business Continuity Professional (ABCP), DRI International
Timeline
Creation & Branding, Operations & Supply Chain, LVMH
12-2024
Incident Management & Business Continuity
New York Times Co
05.2024 - 03.2025
Third Party Risk Management Management
Webster Bank
02.2023 - 05.2024
Senior Analyst Business & Disaster Recovery
Webster Bank
12.2022 - 05.2024
Certified Business Continuity Professional (ABCP), DRI International
05-2020
Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Associate
Morgan Stanley Wealth Management
09.2019 - 12.2022
McKinsey Black Accelerated Honors
from Business
Year Up United
from Investment Operations